The Argentine prosecutor found dead after investigating a bombing wanted the president arrested

Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez attends a Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples at the U.N. headquarters in New York, June 14, 2012.
Eric Thayer/Reuters
The Argentine prosecutor who was found murdered in his apartment after investigating a decades-long terrorist attack wanted President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner arrested for covering up for the perpetrators.

He also called for the arrest of Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman.

The prosecutor, Alberto Nisman, accused the two of covering up Iran's involvement in the decades old bombing of Amia, a Jewish organization in Buenos Aires. It was the worst terrorist attack in Argentine history, and 85 people died.

In a report detailing the findings of his investigation, Nisman said that Kirchner and Timerman protected the bombers, who were allegedly financed by Iran. They did so, said Nisman, to secure a deal — a food-for-oil exchange between Argentina and Iran.

Argentina is an energy-poor country, but its leaders have contested this motive saying that Iran's oil is too heavy for the country to refine.

Regardless, Nisman's report documents phone calls between Argentine and Iranian leaders, over which secret negotiations were made. The calls were intercepted by Argentine intelligence and show that the government tried to deflect suspicion that Hezbollah members financed by Iran were behind the Amia bombing.

As The New York Times noted after Nisman's death, Argentine union leaders worked with Iran to come to a deal on behalf of "boss woman" Fernandez in 2013 :

"He's very interested in exchanging what they have for grains and beef," said the union leader, Luis D'Elía, referring to a powerful Argentine minister with whom he had just met.

Another intercept shows negotiators talking about ways to place blame for the bombing on right-wing groups and activists.

If genuine, The Times notes, the transcripts show "a concerted effort by representatives of President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner's government to shift suspicions away from Iran in order to gain access to Iranian markets and to ease Argentina's energy troubles."

Cristina Fernandez hadn't been seen in public for about 30 days until she made this appearance on Jan. 26.
Reuters
Nisman was about to present the 289-page report to Argentina's legislature before he was found dead in his apartment, which was locked from the inside. At first, the official line was that his death might be a suicide. Argentines took to the streets in protest.

After some silence, President Fernandez took to Argentine television sets across the country dressed in white and sitting in wheelchair.

She admitted that Nisman was likely murdered (like so many Argentine politicians — in an attack she says she herself might have faced) and blamed rogue intelligence agents. She announced that she would disband Argentina's intelligence agency entirely.

For now it seems like this case may never get off the ground. Two judges have already refused to hear the case, and rumors are circulating that the prosecutor investigating Nisman's death, Viviana Fein, is going on vacation.